Cell Renewal & Exfoliation
New skin cells are produced at the bottom of our epidermis. (See “The Skin’). As the cells move up to the outer layer of the epidermis we begin to lose moisture, which can leave our skin dehydrated and dry creating a thicker epidermis. The cycle of skin cell renewal (from development stage to falling off) can take anywhere between 15 to 45 days. A healthy skin should turn over on average every 30 days.
Many factors can affect our cell renewal. The process takes longer as we age, the amount of sun we expose our skin to and general pollution. However there is a large amount of factors that we don’t think about that effect our cell renewal; factors that we can change to increase our renewal rate and improve the skin quality.
Internally it is important to nourish our bodies with vitamins, minerals and EFA’s.
Zinc has the ability to reduce inflammation and assists with the healing of damage to the skin.
Vitamin A quiet often found in treatment creams, is an antioxidant that helps to protect our skin and is required in the development of epithelial cells and mucus membranes; helping to increase the mitosis (reproduction of your new cells).
Vitamin C also known as ascorbic acid, an antioxidant that assist with the production of protein that aids in the growth of cells and blood vessels, giving the skin firmness and strength.
EFA’s (essential fatty acids) which we more commonly know as our omegas 3 & 6 increase the protein within our skin that creates healing, firmness and elasticity. EFA’s are known to help with extremely dry skin as well as assistance of healing in sores and blemishes.
Topically the most effective way on increasing our cell renewal is through exfoliation. The removal of dead skin cells stimulated the base of our epidermis to increase the production on new cells. It is recommended that you exfoliate on a regular basis to continue the stimulation on new cells. This will help to remove the appearance of pigmentation, dry dehydrated skin and scar tissue, while allowing your treatment cream to penetrate deeper within the epidermis.
Mechanical and Chemical exfoliants are the best way to assess which exfoliant you should be using at home.
A Mechanical exfoliant will contain “beads” that you massage over the skin to buff away your DSC’s. The “beads can vary in size which would depend on how often you use it. Larger beads are usually used 1-2 times a week, however “micro-beads” which are extremely small can be used daily. Majority of people enjoy the scrubbing action as they feel like the are “really exfoliating” however people can find that manual beads can irritate their skin, as the friction they create can stimulate blood flow, or create inflammation in an already sensitized skin.
A Chemical exfoliant will normally be classified as alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), beta hydroxy acids (BHAs), or enzymes that act to loosen the glue-like substance that holds the cells together, allowing them to ease away. Commonly used chemical exfoliant are Salicylic Acid, Glycolic Acid and Lactic Acid. Chemical exfoliant can have many different strengths and when used with other active ingredients can double and a treatment for different skin conditions. Although chemical exfoliants can be extremely strong on the skin, penetrating deep within the epidermis removing a large amount of skin cells; a mild chemical exfoliant can be extremely gentle on the skin which allows the most sensitive skin to be exfoliated.
Although it’s important to moisturize your skin, if you are not exfoliating your skin on a regular basis the moisturizer is only protecting and nourishing the DSC’s (dead skin cells) that will naturally fall off the skin within the next few days.
If you would like to know more about the best type of exfoliating for your skin, please feel free to contact me.
